If your garden is like mine, lacking enough room for everything
on your grow list, youll like this tomato growing strategy.

Start by taking two pieces of 5 foot wide by 8 foot long galvanized fence wire, (the
kind used for fencing around animal pens....sometimes called page wire..it has 4 to 6 inch
open squares and is fairly heavy) and rolling them into two 5 tall by 30"
diameter cylinders. Bend the cut ends of the fencing around themselves so they hold their
shape. Now, in the fall, stake one cylinder in place where you want your tomatoes in the
garden next year, then begin piling in all your leaves, lawn clippings and other
compostable garden debris until the cylinder is full. Be sure to have a good mix of
materials and a few shovels full of dirt layered in here & there for good composting
action. Then fasten the second cylinder atop the first with strong wire ties.

Leave the materials to compost over winter and in the spring after the last frost,
transplant your tomato seedlings evenly around the base of the cylinder close into the
wire. You can plant 6 to 8 plants around the base about 12 to 16" apart. As the
plants grow, train them up the cylinder with loose ties and pinch back suckers so you
maintain just two main stems per plant. At least once a week water the centre the cylinder
so the water runs through the compost and feeds the roots with the nutrient rich compost
tea. You can add extra fertilizer such as 10-30-15 or miracle grow every few weeks as
well.

The extra nutrients from the compost give the plants the boost they need to eventually
reach the top of the cage and provide a bountiful crop. We may need a step ladder to
harvest all the fruit towards the end of the season, but at least well get plenty of
tomatoes and still have room for all the other things in our garden! No more stakes &
wire cages everywhere, just one tomato skyscraper! Plus, at the end of the season,
well have all that compost to spread over the rest of the garden before we start a
new batch for next season! Good luck